\nChurch’s role of honor–an occasion both of mourning and of joy. This is a page
\nworthy in every way to be added to the annals of that Africa of earlier times
\nwhich we, living in this era and being people of little faith, never expected
\nto be repeated.
In earlier times there occurred those famous deeds, so Who could have predicted to the famous African confessors These African martyrs herald the dawn of a new age. If only Africa has been washed by the blood of these latest martyrs, The infamous crime by which these young men were put to <\/p>\n Father, You have made the blood of the martyrs the seed of Christians. May the witness of Saint Charles and his companions and their loyalty to Christ in the face of torture inspire countless men and women to live the Christian faith.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The African martyrs add another page to the martyrology–the Church’s role of honor–an occasion both of mourning and of joy. This is a page worthy in every way to be added to the annals of that Africa of earlier times which we, living in this era and being people of little faith, never expected to … Continue reading Saint Charles Lwanga & companions<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2009,1710],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24687"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24687\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"St](\"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/St%20Charles%20Lwanga%20and%20followers.jpg\")
\nmoving to the spirit, of the martyrs of Scilli, of Carthage and of that “white
\nrobed army” of Utica commemorated by Saint Augustine and Prudentius; of the
\nmartyrs of Egypt so highly praised by Saint John Chrysostom and of the martyrs
\nof the Vandal persecution. Who would have thought that in our days we should
\nhave witnessed events as heroic and glorious?
\nand martyrs such as Cyprian, Felicity, Perpetua and the greatest of all,
\nAugustine, that we would one day add the names so dear to us as Charles Lwanga
\nand Matthias Mulumba Lekemba and their twenty companions? Nor must we forget
\nthose members of the Anglican Church who also died for the name of Christ.
\nthe mind of man might be directed not toward persecutions and religious
\nconflicts but toward a rebirth of Christianity and civilization!
\nthe first of this new age (and, God willing, let them be the last, although
\nsuch a holocaust is precious indeed). Africa is reborn free and independent.
\ndeath was so unspeakable and so expressive of the times. It shows us clearly
\nthat a new people needs a moral foundation, needs new spiritual customs firmly
\nplanted, to be handed down to posterirty. Symbolically, this crime also reveals
\nthat a simple and rough way of life -enriched by many fine human qualities yet
\nenslaved by its own weakness and corruption–must give way to a more civilized
\nlife wherein the higher expressions of the mind and better social conditions
\nprevail. (Pope Paul VI, homily at the canonization of St Charles, 1963)<\/p>\n